


Stumbling through the universe with a big blue box and a madman

by narumila



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Post Last X-Mas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-03-20 07:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3641091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narumila/pseuds/narumila
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A loosly connected series of what happened to Clara and the Doctor after Last Christmas. Probably nothing to serious  will happen to the two, just the two of them travelling through time and space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> As I am not a native speaker, feel free to point out glaring errors. I am always willing to learn something. :-)  
> Same goes for plotholes, people acting out of character, etc. As you can tell I'm fairly new to the whole fanfic thing.

"Second chances. I never get a second chance, so what happened this time?", he had said to her with that happy grin. Clara could not remember when she had last seen him smiling, let alone grinning like that. It transformed his usually so distant features with genuine and heartfelt joy. She found herself grinning and giggling with him whilst stumbling into the TARDIS ' s doors.

Clara could hardly believe that she was back again. Back in the TARDIS. In the real one this time. She let her eyes wander around eagerly, drinking it all in. The bookshelves, with hundreds of leather bound books that lined the walls, to the blackboards with his intelligible scribbles, up to the swirling silver carousel with the Gallifreyan symbols on the ceiling that connected the console with the rest of the TARDIS.

"I'm here." she whispered."I'm really here." She spun around, overcome with a laughter that came from deep within her stomach. She felt light as a feather, as she spun around and round dancing through the TARDIS.

The Doctor was watching her, leaning against the console, his arms crossed and with a satisfied smile on his face. When she twirled past him, he saw that mischievous grin of hers he had always cherished so much. Instinctively he reached his arm out to her to pull the laughing woman closer to him.

Clara stopped dead in her tracks when he caught her nightie and felt him pulling her towards him. Her manic grin softened into a warm smile when she turned to him. She let him draw her closer, his hand still firmly holding on to a bunch of the fabric. When they finally stood face to face they were both smiling and gazing into each other's eyes.

She was highly aware of his hand that had let go of the fabric of her dress and rested now lightly on her hip. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She inhaled the scent of old leather bound books, a hint of chalk and desert and that distinctly scent of him, which she had never figured out. No matter how often she had tried this past year. She felt her tense muscles starting to relax and only now realized how her whole body was taut from the excitement. When she felt steady again Clara opened her eyes.

His blue eyes were staring intensely back at her as if he wanted to convey something too important for words to her.

Slowly out of pure instinct Clara raised her right hand to his cheek. She stopped an inch from his face waiting for a sign of reassurance from him. She remembered how often he had shied away, at times recoiled from physical contact. But not today. She was astonished when she saw him closing his eyes and leaning towards her hand. He felt surprisingly warm to her touch and she began to stroke his cheek softly.

He opened his eyes again and placed his other hand firmly on her back and drew Clara to her amazement even closer. "Clara, Clara, Clara" he whispered while she embraced him and rested her head on his shoulder. "My impossible girl. My Clara."


	2. Shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara discovers the joy of trainers

Clara Oswald was running for her life. Again. Along a seemingly endless corridor on a planet whose name she would not even attempt to pronounce. She had been separated from the Doctor and was frantically looking for him. “Where the hell, did you manage to get lost Oswald?” Clara thought turning round another corner that looked exactly like all the others. “Well, at least I’m wearing trainers this time. Should probably thank the TARDIS later.” she chuckled to herself while moving further along.

 

* * *

 

Earlier that day Clara in her dressing gown was standing in front of her closet. “Mhh… what am I putting on today..?” She flicked trough her dresses until she found a warm checkered tweed dress with pockets. She liked dresses that came with pockets as one should not have to carry around purses when one was travelling with the doctor. Holding onto a handbag or something like that and running from danger didn’t mix well. She was still a bit miffed about several of her bags that she had to leave in prisons scattered across the universe as the Doctor had not seen the necessity of retrieving these along with his precious screwdriver. Nowadays she kept everything but her phone on the TARDIS. Having to explain a lost drivers license with “I’m sorry but the Ice Warriors Mars incinerated it. Where can I apply for a new one” was not a thing Clara wanted to become a regular occurrence.  
After having decided on a dress she looked for the new pair of maroon colored boots she had bought for a bargain price with 70% off when the Doctor had taken her to the 1970ies on earth last week. They were not in her shoe drawer. To be precise not one pair of her shoes was to be found. Instead she was staring incredulously at a vast selection of trainers Clara had never seen before.

"Clara? Clara, what's taking you so long? We've arrived on Xzeroptalicutrli. If you don't hurry up, we'll miss all the fun!"

Clara snapped out of the shock induced paralysis and screamed back: "Coming, just a sec, Doctor." She grabbed a pair of neon orange trainers to put on. "At least they're a splash of colour." Clara sighed.

* * *

 

_“What’s all that fuss about?”_

Clara stopped dead in her tracks. Someone was talking just around the next corner.

  
_“Didn’t you hear? Someone tried breaking into the archive earlier”  
“Yeah I heard somthin* like that. But I thought they caught the perpetrator?”_

Damnit, they must have caught the doctor!

  
_“Word is that there must have been two of those strange humanoids. And the other one's still at large.”_  


And they knew about her. Ok, Oswald, breathe, take a deep breath and think. What ya gonna do now?


	3. Lost & Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heavily inspired by the season 9 trailer  
> (I assume what's gonna end up in episodes 3&4 will probably be completely different, but the story basically wrote itself)

Clara held her breath, waiting for the guards‘ next move. Were they standing guard on that particular spot or were they patrolling? She listened hard while the adrenaline was rushing through her veins. She heard her heart pounding while listening and there was a new sound. A regular, louder sound than the ever present humming of the lights. They were moving in her direction.

Okay, Oswald. A way out. A way out. Clara scanned her surroundings. Forward meant capture, backwards was the maze of the flooded tunnels. Backwards it is then.

Clara turned around the corner in one of the darker corridors where the floor was partiallz flooded, falling in step with the guards to mask the sounds of her footsteps. She leaned back against the slimy corridor's wall as the guards passed by unaware of their quarry mere metres from them. When she could no longer hear them sloshing along the corridor Clara stepped out of her hinding place. Taking a quick glance she decided to go in the direction where the guards had come from.

She walked through the lit corridors halting at every intersection and listening for the sound of guards or anything but the sloshing of her own steps as she waded onwards. After quite a while she finally much to her relief hear voices again and people wading through the water. She must have reached some inhabitated part of the underwater city.

She peeked carefully so as not to give herself away at the people in the hallway. There were three of them standing around. Two looked like the guards that had passed her, the third was dressed differently and seemed to be of higher status as he was dressing the guards down: _".. and why do you think it was a good idea to give the prisoner his singing pen back?" "I... I'm... I didn't think..." "Oh, yeah obviously you DIDN't think anything whatsoever! There are rules that prisoners are to be stripped of their belongings! We do NOT, I repeat, NOT give them their weapons back, so they can escape and wreck havoc on our city! You will stand before a tribunal...."_ The sermon seemed to go on and on but Clara had heard what she needed to: The doctor had his sonic and had escaped. She suppressed a chuckle at the thought of the doctor charming his way out of prison. Clara would have loved to see it live.

She jumped as she heard the unmistakable sound of people coming towards her. She scrambled back to one of the darker side corridors anxiously watching over her shoulder wether the guards had become aware of her presence. While turning a corner she slammed into a familiar figure.

The doctor steadied her and dragged her along the corridor he had come from. They both pressed themselves as flat as possible against the walls until neither of them could hear anymore footsteps. _"So what have you been up to Miss Oswald since you got lost?" " I got lost? Well nevermind, at least I didn't get captured!" " I don't think this one counts as getting captured really. I got out all by myself"_ he grinned widely and added: _"and in under an twenty minutes." "Oh, yeah heard about it. How the hell did you get them to give you the sonic back?" "Charm Clara, good old fashioned charm. Works surprisingly well. You should try it sometime"._ Clara looked at the unbelievably smug alien, her eyebrows raised and an epression of very, very strained patience on her face.


End file.
